Mute Ads, Access TV Shows & More With Hulu Extensions [Chrome]

If you’re based in the US, or have found a workaround like Tunlr for those of you who aren’t, keeping up with your favourite TV shows and movies on the free service Hulu is one of the best ways to watch TV. The most popular shows are available on Hulu, and you can watch them pretty much any time you want. That’s not to to say that the service couldn’t be better.

There’s a few things about Hulu we’re not crazy about – the ads for one can get a little annoying – and watching shows in your browser can always use an enhancement or two. Luckily, if you’re a Chrome user, there are a few Chrome Hulu extensions worth installing that will boost an already great Hulu experience up a few extra notches.

No Hulu Ads

Anyone who happens to have AdBlock installed in their Chrome browser knows that the extension renders Hulu useless. The free streaming service detects Adblock and won’t let you stream any tv shows until you’ve disabled the ad-blocking extension. While there’s no way to stop Hulu ads from playing entirely, a new Chrome extension provides a small workaround. Rather than completely disable ads, you can at least mute them.

The aptly named Chrome extension No Hulu Ads can’t stop the ads from appearing but it will at least mute them. Once you’ve installed the extension, head over to Hulu and play a video to see how it works. You’ll find that all ads, along with the introduction message letting you know which advertiser happens to be sponsoring the video, are muted. When Hulu gives you a choice between two ads, you can’t select an ad, and the countdown simply continues as though the ad is playing.

While No Hulu Ads is supposed to black-out the screen, and not display the ad at all, in our experience the video was still displayed, but clicking on the screen does nothing – the link through the advertiser’s website is disabled – and No Hulu Ads automatically unmutes the service as soon as your movie or TV show resumes. If you’re browsing another tab, it will also display a small notification letting you know that your show is back on, and pause it until you go back to the Hulu tab.

Hulu – TV Shows

One of Hulu’s biggest strengths is its significant collection of TV shows. While signing up for a free account on Hulu (or even just using the service from the same computer) keeps track of the shows you watch on a regular basis, why not use a handy Chrome extension which has already bookmarked some of the most popular TV shows for you.

The Chrome extension places a small button in your bookmark bar, and clicking on it opens up a dropdown menu with just under 50 popular shows including Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Arrested Development and more.

Unfortunately that’s all the extension does. Giving users the option to add shows of their choice to the list is a much needed feature.

HelloHulu is current in the midst of a big revamp but in the meantime, you can at least use the Chrome extension to search Hulu quickly directly from your bookmarks bar.

HelloHulu does far more than just provide users with a handy search button. The Chrome Hulu extension provides users with access to searching for Hulu videos, links to the videos, and easy access to your video queue all from a convenient pop-up window accessible directly within your bookmarks bar.

If you’d prefer to liberate Hulu entirely from your browser, provided you’re subscribed to Hulu Plus, you can also watch it using Apple TV, a Roku or an XBMC media center.

Can you think of any handy Hulu-related extensions? Let us know in the comments.

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Mihovil Pletikos

Gary Volk

February 6, 2013

I still just use the free Hulu Desktop. Sure you have to still put up with ads but it gets Hulu out of the browser. I only watch the free version of Hulu, but I connect my PC to the TV to watch some shows on the big screen. This way, I can also use the remote to play/pause etc. I have found no other way to easily watch free Hulu on the TV. XBMC is OK, but this is not an option for everybody and it takes much more to get set up for the free Hulu(if that is possible).

The only add-on that sounds interesting is the No Hulu adds. I don’t and won’t use Chrome, but if they make a Firefox add-on I’ll check it out.

The bookmark add-on sounds almost useless. Why would you make a bookmarking extension that you can’t add bookmarks too? Are these just the favorite shows of the programmer? I would not want to see any of them. And the HelloHulu does not sound very useful, in my opinion, either. Maybe I’m missing something or I just don’t search much for shows. I know what I want to watch, and either Hulu has it, or it does not. Searching from the Hulu desktop is all I need to find out.

Shmuel Mendelsohn

Jessica Lee

I don’t mind the ads, realizing that Hulu is free. I’m just glad to be able to catch up on shows that I have missed. I use a small laptop and it’s perfect to watch on my lunch hour.

Gregil10

February 10, 2013

Altho they can be annoying, I don’t object to ads because they help to pay the bills and allow us to watch shows and movies at no monetary cost. But what I really hate about Hulu and the reason that I block the ads is the extreme change in volume levels sometimes between the show and the commercial. I have to keep the remote handy to turn down the volume when an ad comes on. Also, I use AdBlock. When ads come on it displays a message telling me to turn it off to watch the ad so I have a few minutes of silence till it ends. But I can still watch the show.